I am worried about the Heroes of Newerth relaunch

I remember the original Heroes of Newerth. The title was hotter than League of Legends at the time and is honestly one of the most pivotal and important DOTA clones/successors. Back in 2010, the game launched and redefined what a MOBA could be. Years later, in 2022, the game would ultimately fold due to poor decision-making. However, thanks to a former S2 Games developer, Jesse Hayes, the goal is to bring the game back better than ever.

That’s a brilliant thought, and one I’m on board with. I spent many hours in Heroes of Newerth back in the day, even though it had a famously toxic community. Given what I know about MOBAs in general, I think that just comes with the territory.

That said, while I want to be excited about the Reborn MOBA, I’m finding that hard to do right now.

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What has Heroes of Newerth done in its relaunch to worry fans?

The problem with Heroes of Newerth almost always seems to come down to money. Despite its popularity, the buy-to-play title couldn’t compete with free-to-play games like League of Legends or DOTA 2. While HoN would later shift to an F2P model, having to pay thirty bucks to make an account is something fans didn't easily forget.

The long and the short of my trepidation with Heroes of Newerth Reborn comes from the platform it’s going to be on: iGames. That’s right, not Steam, not Epic Games, not PlayStation Network, but iGames. iGames is a relatively new website, owned by the original S2 games founder, Marc DeFrost. If his website is helping to fund the HoN revival, I suppose it makes sense that it’s not going to be on Steam.

While the FAQ on the website claims there will be no Web3, Crypto, or Blockchain technology used in the game, it does have a “Fiat Wallet”, where you can store real-world money for “seamless monetary transactions”. Once can also see game-specific currencies called Tickets/Tokens on this platform.

These are “game-specific currencies” designed to support the various in-game economies. Each game token has a unique value, and while it wasn’t specifically mentioned in the FAQ that there would be Heroes of Newerth tokens, it was used as an example. This just feels shady I suppose.

Comment byu/LunaRain69 from discussion inHeroesofNewerth

However, I want to be clear. I’m not saying, “Don’t ever play Heroes of Newerth Reborn.” I do feel like caution is important, though. We’ll just have to see how it all shakes out. If it winds up being fun, and there are no shady, alternate currencies or pay-to-win tactics, I think the HoN relaunch could be great.

The visuals look fantastic, and I hope that, on launch, it stays that way. It's supposed to feature all the modern amenities for a MOBA — Role Queue, for example. It has new (to HoN) game mechanics like the Phoenix boss and a monster that can help push lanes in. It will also launch with 80 familiar heroes, so that's another plus.

While there's certainly plenty to be excited about, there's just as much to be worried about. Sure, the iGames website claims to not be a crypto thing because they have their own currency, but that doesn't make me feel a whole lot better.

I think at the end of the day, the biggest cause for concern is that the game is exclusively launching on an unknown, untested platform as their “premier game”. On top of this, there being no mention of the title being released on trusted platforms somewhere down the line will also be a cause of concern for gamers.

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There are people who won’t even use the Epic Games Store, because “it’s not Steam”. I think that similar feelings might come up with regard to Heroes of Newerth Reborn. Even then, I hope for the game’s success.

At this time, there’s no confirmed release date for HoN Reborn, though it is currency in active development.